


Armor

by lostin_space



Series: quick little doodles [4]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 03:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20146990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: Rosa gives Alex some armor.





	Armor

**Author's Note:**

> i thought i posted this on ao3 but i guess i didn't, whoops

Alex watched with curious eyes as Rosa painted a dark, sparkly purple onto her nails in the next booth.

She was older than him by three whole years and there was something intimidating about a 13-year-old girl who had already mastered a look that begged to be messed with. He had even seen her get into a fight before. He didn’t know what happened, but Liz said some boy called her a bad name and she had responded by breaking his nose. Alex thought that was pretty cool. He wanted to be just as intimidating as she was.

“What?” Alex sat up straight when he realized Rosa was talking to him. “Why are you staring at me?” she demanded, raising an eyebrow that didn’t give him much room to argue.

“That’s a pretty color,” he said. It wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the full truth. He couldn’t just _say_ he wanted to be like a girl. His dad had already told him that wasn’t okay. He didn’t want Rosa to think he was weird too.

“Thanks,” she said slowly, eyeing him in a way only a 13-year-old could, “Do you want to try it?”

He blinked a few times and wondered if he should. He did want to. He liked the color, he liked the way it looked, he liked that you could take something as dumb as fingernails and make them as pretty as you wanted. But what if she made fun of him?

Rosa moved to his booth.

“Give me your hand,” she urged. Alex obliged and couldn’t help when he smiled at the sight of the pretty color on him. It made him feel pretty too.

They sat there for a while as she painted each and every one of his nails, giving two whole layers just to make sure they looked nice. And they _did_. Alex couldn’t stop staring at them.

“Thank you,” he said softly. When he turned them the right way, the glitter would catch the sun and it would sparkle really bright. It was better than he could’ve hoped for.

“No problem. I think it looks good on you. Feels like armor.” He blinked his confusion a couple of time and she rolled her eyes. “Pretty things make people stare and make people say things because they’re jealous. But it doesn’t matter what they do or say because _you’re_ the one who’s pretty. So its armor, you get it?” Alex nodded and smiled even wider.

Later that night, he fully understood what she meant. His father did not like his pretty nails at all. Yet, even when Alex found himself forcibly locked in the bathroom with nothing but nail polish remover and a bruise in the shape of a handprint forming on his arm, he smiled.

He couldn’t wait to put his armor on again.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
